Jorgensen
|fgcolor= |image=Jorgensen Frontline Comic1.JPG |imgsize= |birth= |death= |race=Terran |gender=Male |height= |hair= |eyes= |faction= Umojan Protectorate |job=Minister of the Umojan Protectorate }} Minister Jorgensen leads the Umojan Protectorate and leads the Ruling Council. Biography Rise to Power Note: As Jorgensen is a rather important character in the universe of StarCraft, it would likely be better to not give him a first name as it may contradict future works. Jorgensen was a youth born and raised on Umoja proper in 2453, having gone through a brief career as a lawyer from Sarengo Law School. He would later run for election of his home continent of Sarengia, winning representation on the Umojan Ruling Council for his province as a counciler. He was married to Louise Jorgenson, and had one child, Hubert Jorgenson. However, it was during this time that Confederate aggression into Kel-Morian and Umojan prospects and colonies looked dire. The Ruling Council had long been siphoning funds into movements such as the Korhal Rebellion, but showed little more than cracks in their defenses. The Guild Wars broke out, with Umoja funding the KMC with troops and equipment. Jorgensen advocated that should Umoja interfere openly, the Confederacy would undeniably come for them next. Many other council members voiced this same concern. After the defeat of the Kel-Morian Combine and the discovery of a new Confederate program training psionics into stealth assassins, which had been used to kill many important Umojan voices, it was obvious something needed to be done. Jorgensen headed the creation of a mutual defense pact between Umoja and the independent colonies that had spawned from it. Such an act would be unheard of mere years ago, but Jorgensen had managed to craft a document that laid out that each colony would maintain its individual rights to rule and that the Ruling Council could not interfere with their inner workings, but that mutual cooperation and a united front would be the only way to halt Confederate aggression. Jorgensen's document went through many revisions, but at a shocking speed for the normally slowmoving body was ratified. The Umojan Protectorate was founded. With the smashing success of the Articles of the Protectorate, it was a given that the father of the new loose Confederation be made into the new position of Minister, leading it and ensuring that the colonies cooperated. Jorgensen continued to authorize aid to Arcturus Mengsk even after the Rebellion of Korhal was destroyed with the nuking of Korhal, authorizing him to use a stolen Confederate battlecruiser they provided. Soon the appearance of the protoss and the zerg arrived, and Jorgensen made the popular choice to use this opportunity to dump as many resources as they could into Mengsk's rebellion, while sending out Shadowguards to survey the situation. Under Jorgensen's supervision zerg attacks were limited to fringe planets and were usually repelled, as the zerg were largely preoccupied with the protoss and Confederacy. Jorgensen set out to encourage diplomatic relations and trades of ideals and culture with the protoss, but found no luck; the protoss either ignored or fired upon the Umojan ambassador ships (though all escaped). But when Mengsk came to power, at first Jorgensen hailed him as the conquering hero, delivering them from the Confederacy, and sent funds and tribute as support. But reports came back from his diplomats and observers of unrestrained cruelty, an iron fisted rule, and his ascension as Emperor, and suddenly Jorgensen realized the mistake he had made. When Mengsk called for all terran nations to unite under one banner, Umoja abstained, much to Mengsks's surprise. Then came the Brood War. Not much is known of Jorsensen's actions in the Brood War, but early in their invasion, Mengsk was on a diplomatic mission to Umoja to visit his son. Using advanced technology, a group named the Confederate Resistance Forces slipped in and tried to assassinate Mengsk, but was repelled. There is a lot of mystery surrounding these events, as Umojan orbital defenses did not pick them up, and defenders were abnormally slow to respond. To top off the conspiracy, the UED had skipped Umojan territory entirely during the early stages of their conquest, focusing on the Dominion and the zerg and with the Kel-Morian Combine voluntarily folding into their rule. It is rumored, and even was believed by Mengsk, that Jorgensen had made some secret deal with the UED to remove Mengsk in exchange for some fairer terms when they came for their colonies, but whether this was a stalling tactic, or even if it was ever an agreement or a miraculous series of coincidences is unknown to this day. Cold War and Phash In the aftermath of the Brood War, the UED was defeated, and the Dominion very quickly reformed itself to be the power of the sector once again, and Jorgensen kicked his espionage campaign into high gear. Winning his reelection to the 10 year post of Minister, Jorgensen responded by embargoing the Dominion and preventing the flow of any personnel or technology legally to and from the Dominion, though blockade runners and smugglers proved to be a massive pain in Jorgensen's plan. The newly reformed Shadowguard were used to spark revolutions and riots among the Dominion, while ghosts took out key Umojans getting too vocal about their anti-Dominion ideas. In spite of their best efforts though, they never killed Jorgensen. In late 2500, the former Dominion senator Corbin Phash caught the eye of Jorgensen, who was fighting to have his psionic son Colin Phash not put in the ghost program. Jorgensen personally offered Phash asylum and aided in hiding his child, though the Dominion, seeking Colin for his ability to use a "Quiet Voice" to avoid zerg, and for being able to psionically project himself, a gift never seen among any terran psionic. Ultimately, Colin was captured, but Jorgensen stepped up his propaganda campaign into high gear, leaking information to the Dominion press on the ghost program and the forced removal of Colin from his father. Mass protests revealed secrets of the Ghost Program. This became useful in giving his Shadowguards the edge they needed to become more feared than even the Dominion's assassins. Eventually, under immense political pressure (and after Colin refused to cooperate, which lead many in Dominion command to believe he had faked the psionic powers), Colin was released to Corbin, and volunteered to be trained as a Shadowguard, as he would be given all of the freedoms he desired while fighting for a cause be believed in. Meanwhile, Jorgensen embarked on a project that could be considered his greatest blunder, the funding of Project Shadowblade, or the Spectre Rebellion. Managing to contact Colin and Corbin and discuss the matter with Jorgensen, the spectre leader Jackson Hauler agreed on a plan to bring Arcturus Mengsk to Umojan territory, where pirate reporter Michael Liberty would broadcast Mengsk confessing his crimes to the public. The Umojans sent a large number of scientists, soldiers, ammo, cash and hardware to support this operation, but kept their Shadowguard far behind. However, when their super battlestation Gehenna Station was destroyed and Hauler was killed, a paper trail lead back to Umoja. It was the only the quick thinking of Councilor Patrick Haggerty, the man in charge of relations between the Umojans and the spectres, that prevented the Dominion from finding conclusive evidence of Umojan skulduggery. Jorgensen's career was saved. Jorgensen turned to internal matters while continuing to disrupt the Dominion. Arts and culture were funded in isolation of the Dominion, leading to a booming art, style, and cultural renaissance for Umoja (though they lagged behind in the holovid and entertainment scene, which still mostly pulled from Korhal). More secret successes such the uncovering of Project Odin and the empowerment of anti-Mengsk forces (though more indirectly, as Jorgensen was loath to repeat Arcturus's rise to power) continued to cause a pain in Mengsk's side. Second Great War and End War With the second invasion of the zerg and Sarah Kerrigan, Jorgensen took no chances. While before Jorgensen turned a blind eye to a number of black market goods filtering into Umoja, only busting those who smuggled heavy drugs and particularly sensitive technology out, Jorgensen enacted Emergency Protocol 25: under no circumstances could zerg forces or infestation reach into populated Umojan space. All hyperspace routes were closed, with specialist blocks and mines able to disable ships in hyperspace. Former smugglers were hired to reveal their secret routes in exchange for generous pensions. No terrans were allowed in or out of Umojan space aside for specialist diplomats and operatives. Very silently, even desperate refugee ships were destroyed, but as these were usually destroyed by secret Umojan warp traps, Jorgensen was easily able to prevent any backlash of their destruction from coming back on him. Yet some exceptions were made for the fringe Umojan worlds, some refugee ships were allowed into a cluster of systems on its external fringe officially named Plato's Arm (and unofficially named "The Brown Smear" for how worthless these planets were), partially as a political stunt to weaken faith in the Dominion. When Valerian Mengsk, the half-Umojan son of Arcturus Mengsk, and Jim Raynor arrived at Umojan space with the Queen of Blades, now human, Valerian asked for asylum, with Jorgensen offered, hoping to curry some influence over Valerian and knowing studying the zerg queen would give them an invaluable edge. He ordered her placed in the secret AI research facility of Research Station EB-103 on the remote planetoid XT39323. But his confidence in his own secrets was outstripped by Mengsk's desire to kill Kerrigan. She was found mere weeks later, and Mengsk launched a full invasion of the base. His fleet claimed Plato's Arm and a portion of systems in Umoja proper, and began to prepare for a full invsion of the core Umojan systems. A portion of the Umojan fleet attempted direct retaliation but was repelled with heavy casualties at Lotus II. Thankfully for Jorgenson, the reappearance of the zerg on the borders of Dominion space halted these endeavors as the fleet was called back to the defend the Dominion. But for once, Umoja had been struck, and had lost land, and the Ruling Council was livid. Votes of no confidence in Jorgenson's leadership were thrown about, some even saying the Protectorate as a concept had failed. Knowing his career could not survive this, Jorgensen alongside a number of military officials enacted Operation: Awoken Dragon. In Jorgensen's signature style, this was not a direct invasion, Umoja would get crushed in that situation, but a mass campaign of destruction of Dominion resources. Shadowguards originally sent to passively gather information were called to take more active roles. Transports carrying troops and vital supplies found themselves with warp points flying them into suns and planet. Worlds in the path of the oncoming zerg found themselves with their equipment destroyed or without supplies. Regiments were given contradicting orders. Anti-Dominion groups suddenly simultaneously found themselves with the exact schematics of Dominion fortresses and fortifications. While it's unclear how much this actually helped under the unstoppable wave that was the zerg, Arcturus Mengsk was killed, and Valerian Mengsk was established as the new ruler of the Dominion. Jorgensen's position was secured, and the land taken by the Dominion was given back to Umoja. Yet, Jorgensen thought of Valerian as a potential puppet, and wad disappointed to discover just how strong willed this boy emperor was, not abolishing the Emperor system of Arcturus but promising fair elections. While he attempted peace, Jorgsensen distrusted Valerian, as did much of the Ruling Council. Yet in the next year Umoja would face another threat in the End War, as hybrid and Moebius Corps broke out across the sector burning every civilized world in their path. It was only a matter of time before these forced, focused around former protoss space, came for Umoja. General Aldric Reyes proposed an operation to send five Shadowguards with experimental gear to track the fleet, but Jorgensen knew that this was a suicide mission even if it did work, and voiced thoughts against it. Yet as they debated, Reyes initiated the operation anyway, and all Shadowguards were killed in action. Yet before he could call for Reyes to step down, the tracking devices altered Umoja to the fleet coming at them, and Umoja turned what should have been a slaughter into a resounding and fierce victory. All Moebius forces were killed, and Reyes was made into a folk her. Rather than criticize him, Jorgensen praised the Hero of Icarus VIII, and helped his image as a folk hero. Secretly, he knew the two men's ambitions would continue to clash. Jorgensen would weather two more Moebius incursions into Umojan space, seizing several fringe colonies, but all were repelled. Thankfully the corrupted Golden Armada did not reach Umojan territory before the war's end, thus leaving the majority of Umojan space unmolested. As the sector rebuilt, Jorgensen was hailed as a hero, and deftly won a second 10 year term for his actions. Now in middle age, some were wary of him being the constantly reelected leader of Umoja, with anti-Jorgensen news media calling him "the democratic dictator." Yet with no rule to limit his terms, and with much of Umoja wanting to keep the man who successfully established the Protectorate, he had won these elections fair;y, a firm believer in the democratic process as one of the few things he would not tamper with. Tensions Rise As peace set about in the sector, Jorgensen maintained his standoffish stances and manipulations from the shadows while funding science, culture and technology over brute force. However, this came to a head when Shadowguard agents recovered files connecting Valerian Mengsk to the foundation of Moebius. While Councilors Zachary Zilinskas and and Bo Ae Lee objected, with the Reyes and Haggerty eventually convincing the other councilors to use this leverage against Valerian as a contingency plan should Valerian fall to pressure to invade the Umojan Protectorate to obtain their agricultural technologies capable of rebuilding the Dominion's ruined infrastructure. Unfortunately, this resulted in the destruction of the Umojans's space fortress "The Keep" the the deaths of hundreds of Umojans. Such a tragedy was largely covered up to the secretive nature of the Keep, and Valerian made the files public, both removing any leverage the Umojans had and damaging relations between the two nations. Valerian continued peace talks, but an edge of distrust on both sides lead to any progress they made being grossly undone. Jorgensen distrusted the rise of Reyes and his continued push for greater defensive actions in future conflict and a greater focus on recruitment and militarization. Reyes meanwhile, a folk hero among the Umojans, became a potential rival for the next cycle of elections in 2519, with many saying that Jorgensen had remained "too long" in office. Insistent that the Dominion was the true threat and that mass militarization beyond their volunteer army would compromise what it means to be Umojan, and that their actions had to focus on realistic countermeasures through diplomacy and their past shadow operations. Yet Jorgensen knows Reyes is more than willing to break the rules if it means accomplishing his view of what must be done. These two egos are bound to clash, and the Personality Jorgensen, in his many reelections, has personified Umojan values of not directly interfering in the affairs of others, gathering all the information before acting, and when acting making sure you only needed to act once. Some have called him duplicitous, using his network of spies and diplomats to get his work done for him rather than the Umojan military. But it is this and the fact that Umoja survived four separate wars unscathed that has won him reelection after reelection to the position of Minister. While popular for being the "father of the Umojan Protectorate," recent tensions have caused damage to his political reputation. The rise of Reyes to power has caused a disagreement in the direction of the Umojan Protectorate. A war hero, Reyes advocates for further militarization and firm defensive measures to prevent another Dominion invasion, while Jorgensen is insistent Umoja's reputation as a place of science and learning, a beacon among humanity, must not be compromised. In many ways, Jorgensen is the mirror of Reyes, both are political animals who believe in doing what must be done, often in the shadows, but where Jorgensen believes in waiting, gathering all the information, then winning the approval of his comrades to deal with threats in a single swift strike, Reyes believes in a much more upfront approach. References Category:Characters Category:Umojan Ruling Council Members